"The Barbican"

No. 38 - 1963

Loaned by John Davey - Edited by Maurice Hobden

IFE goes on much as
before. The school grows in size; the out-of-school activities
widen; the numbers going on to universities swell. The School is
doing well. Floreat Lewesia ad infinitum? But there are a few
changes. One notes with wry amusement that the numbering of the
forms has been changed. Boys begin in one of the three forms,
Form IA, IB1 and IB2. This renumbering allows for the abolition
of the Remove forms - a hangover from an old public school
tradition.

In the old days at school the word "Remove" was synonymous
with "Trouble". It was seen as inevitable that the worst
behaviour was to be found in the Remove and especially Remove B.
To boys in the lower school the bullies of Remove B were the most
feared. To those in the upper school they were seen as pathetic
trouble-makers going through a mid-school crisis. It had become a
tradition, so it seemed, one that the boys felt obliged to
honour, that this was the year to act out the loutish behaviour
that nature had intended for boys at the age of fifteen. Was this
renaming a brainwave designed to break this tradition at a
stroke? Did it achieve that objective one wonders?

Meanwhile the chapel and its place in the school is still a
subject of debate.Various strategems are tried to get more boys
involved and interested. Try as they may it would seem, as A.J.B.
puts it, that "many . . . persist in regarding it with lethargic
scepticism".

EDITORIAL

RESPONSE to appeals for magazine contributions has been far more
gratifying this time. Space has (I hope) been found for just over
twenty pieces of original work. Another fifteen have been awarded
"commended" house points. Total number of contributions sent in
(excluding all official reports) was eighty.

It will, I think, be seen that the literary quality of
accepted contributions has improved, more so, perhaps, in verse
than in prose; but I still feel that not enough serious effort is
made to learn "hints of the proper craft: tricks of the tool's
true play". To my mind, this can only be done by a proper study
of the mechanics and architecture of good prose and verse. If the
young writer has originality, it will be aided immeasurably, not
stunted, by sitting for a while at the feet of the true
craftsman. Too many today, assured of their own uniqueness, rush
into every form of art - into music, painting, sculpture,
writing, and foist upon us the amorphous or cacophonous
monstrosities which we are dared to find lacking the vital fire.
So often they lack qualities far more humble: form, logic, and
sense; without which a wild imagination beats the air.

In many ways 1962 has been a pretty fair year. We did not
perhaps specially distinguish ourselves in the last year of State
Scholarships, but in academic work and in the manifold activities
recorded in the following pages, the School gives evidence of
continuing and abounding vitality.
W.H.E.

SCHOOL NOTES

THE School has lost several members of the Governing Body during
the last few months; we record with sorrow the deaths of Mr. W.
R. P. Ridgway and the Rev. Canon H. M. Harries, of whom more is
written on another page. Mr. J. F. Bishop and Mr. C. H. Lockitt
have resigned from the Governing Body, Mr. Lockitt on the
occasion of his removal to Worthing; both have have been
associated with the School for many years, Mr. Bishop as a parent
before becoming a governor, and have given us the benefit of
their experience and wisdom on many occasions. Mr Lockitt,
himself an ex-headmaster, was an indefatigable governor, and has
hardly missed a single meeting, even those called at short
notice, in all his years of office; many members of staff will
recall his acute and pertinacious questioning of the candidates
on "short lists". 'We wish them all health and happiness, and
assure them of the welcome they will always find in the School.

To replace them we are glad to welcome Professor Asa Briggs,
Alderman Miss Ann Dumbrell, Mr. R. H. Lohoar and Mr. S. F.
Mackinney. Mr. Lahoar's son, J. Lohoar, was head of School in
1957, and he himself has been a friend and helper of the School
for many years. Professor Briggs is no stranger to us since last
Speech Day; we are happy to form this link with the new
University of Sussex, and honoured to have as a governor one
internationally famous in the worlds of scholarship and
education. Miss Dumbrell's nominations as our governor and as
Mayor of Lewes take effect almost simultaneously; we congratulate
her, and hope that neither duty will take too much of her time
from the other.

The staff also bears a new look, almost one-fifth of the
number having changed within the last twelve months. Messrs P.
Jackson, B. A. Pratt, J. Rowell, D. J. Small, A. Summerfield and
D. Davies have left us to take up a various array of teaching
posts in other schools, and we welcome instead Messrs M. B.
Holman, A. M. Hughes, E. M. Keen, P. A. McCourt, C. E. P.
Simpson, K. C. Venables and D. G. R. Walker. Most of these are at
the beginning of their career; Mr. Simpson already has behind him
a lifetime of service in the Royal Navy, in which he achieved a
distinguished war record and the rank of Commander. We are also
fortunate to have the help of a well-known commercial artist, Mr.
Peter Probyn, in expanding the work of the Art Department.

Congratulations to various members of the School on their
achievements: T. Drake, J. Grinsted and P. J. Whitfield on State
Scholarships; M. P. Sadler on winning one of the five L'Alliance
Francaise Essay prizes (nine days in Paris), out of nearly one
thousand competitors; T. Drake on being selected for the England
Schoolboys' Rugby Football team which played similar teams from
Wales and France last Easter; M. J. Meardon on being selected for
the Sussex team at the All England Schools Athletic Championships
for 1962.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Lewes briefly on
the l6th July, 1962, the first Royal visit to the town for over
130 years; the School lined part of the route taken by Her
Majesty on leaving the Town Hall for Newhaven.

On 24th November, the second Fete in aid af the School
swimming pool fund was held at the School. In spite of
forbiddingly cold and wet weather conditions, a huge crowd of
parents and supporters of the School turned up. They swept the
hall of its bargains in a short time, patronized the numerous
sideshows and displays run by the members of forms in their form
rooms, and refreshed themselves at the rival booths selling tea
and hot dogs respectively, to such effect that a net profit for
the fund of almost £600 was raised: an even greater sum
than last year's magnificent total. Happy is the school that can
evoke such massive efforts for its causes. A further note on the
work on the pool appears in this number. During the year various
sections of the School have heard visiting speakers, including
Mr. A. A. Wise on "India Today", enlivened by his own fiIms, and
Miss Beryl Northcott on "The Common Market", a summary af
masterly lucidity: The sixth form were able to hear and question
Canon L. John Collins, the Chairman of C.N.D., on the aims of his
movement, after he had preached in chapel on 29th October, and on
another occasion to hear a. stimulating account of scientific
method from Professor R. J. Blin-Stoyle, Professor of Physics at
the University of Sussex: There has also been a series of
lectures on the prospects in different careers, which during the
year covered the Army, the Church, the Law, the Steel Industry,
Chartered Surveying and Engineering. It is hoped to repeat a
similar series at intervals of two years, so that all members of
the fifth and sixth forms can form a general picture af the
openings available to them.

Most of the senior school will remember the period before the
completion of the School chapel, when the School attended a
weekly service in Southover Parish Church. They will, therefore,
learn with regret of the retirement of the Rector, the Rev.
Douglas Matthews. We are most grateful for his cooperation over
many years in making this service possible, and wish both the
Rector and Mrs. Matthews many happy years of retirement in
Hailsham.

On 24th October the School participated in a performance of a
medieval morality play, "Noyes Fludde", set to music by Benjamin
Britten. This was a large-scale venture organised by Mr. F. E.
Tandy, involving all the Secondary Schools of East Sussex in two
separate productions, one at Hove Parish Church in which we
participated, and one in Bexhill Parish Church. The School
provided two of the soloists, Humphrey Gilbert and Christopher
Lisk, who sang the parts of Japhet and Shem, Clifford Lauer, who
played prima in the piano duet, John Gorrett and Andrew
Sutherland in the orchestra, and a large number of animals in the
chorus. Each animal made his own head-dress, under :the direction
of Mr. Toy; our own contributions were highly decorative, the
giraffes in particular being so successful that they were
requisitioned to perform in the Bexhill performance also. The
production was a memorable visual and musical experience for all
who participated, whether as performers or members of the
congregations.

The School enjoyed a Piano recital by Miss Mitzi Lawton on the
l2th October; we have also recently sent parties to a performance
of "Swan Lake" by the Royal Ballet at Brightan and to an
instructive orchestral concert conducted by Mr. Archie Camden,
which was arranged by the Education Authority at Lewes Secondary
School. A final cultural note: on the last day of the Autumn term
the School was entertained by a vintage British film, "Whisky
Galore".

In addition to the achievements of old Lewesians listed in the
Speech Day programme, we congratulate S. G. Fleet (1952-55) on
being elected to a Fellowship at Fitzwilliam House, Cambridge,
and thus becoming the first O.L. Fellow at any Oxford or
Cambridge College; B. S. Greenfield (1950-58) on graduating from
Leeds University with honours in Russian and German; J. R.
Sandercock (1953-61) on his membership of the first Oxford
University Basketball team to whom Half Blues have been awarded
for their match against Cambridge; and D. F. R. Wicks (1936-41)
on being invited to sing a principal part in the current Covent
Garden production of "Die Meistersinger", and to take part in the
forthcoming Glyndebourne season.

SPEECH DAY - 1962

THE annual Speech Day and Distribution of Prizes took place in
the School Hall on Friday, l6th November. Our guest speaker was
Professor Asa Briggs, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Sussex University.
In a lively and witty address, the Professor sought, as
presumably an historian should, to shed light on our present
educational problems by seeking illumination from the past. He
quoted from Roger Ascham (or was it Thomas Fuller?) a
delightfully down-to-earth diviation of boys into their four
eternal categories: clever-industrious; clever-lazy;
dull-industrious; and dull-lazy, and that pedagogue's terse and
salty comments on each type. What emerged, when the Professor had
done, was that, howsoever the world wags, human nature remains
much the same and demands roughly the same basic treatment, if
the spirit is to do anything with us.

Mrs. Briggs charmingJy gave away the prizes and endured all
the handshaking; and the formal part of the ceremony closed with
an outstandingly successful vote of thanks - witty, well-timed
and apt - by John Beal, the School Captain.

THE OLD LEWESIAN ASSOCIATION

AFTER a lapse of several years, the Old Lewesian Association has
once more become active. Many Old Lewesians have expressed their
regret that this vital link between the School and its old
members had ceased to exist, and the enjoyment felt by all who
attended the presentation to Mr. Bradshaw on his retirement was
great enough to justify an attempt at starting afresh.

A special general meeting was held at the School on the 28th
July, 1962, which about a hundred Old Lewesians from all parts of
the country attended. The Association was re-formed with an
annual subscription of five shillings (or £1 for five
years), and the following committee members were elected :-

After the business
proceedings were over, refreshments were served in the hall and
many old friendships were revived and new ones made, while O.L.s
who had not visited the School for several years were able to see
the chapel, the progress made on the swimming pool, and the other
recent additions to the School buildings.

It was decided to hold two functions a year, a winter dinner
at London and a summer meeting at the School.

The dinner was held on 9th February at "The Victoria",
opposite Victoria Station, where over fifty O.L.s whose leaving
dates ranged from 1934 to 1962, enjoyed a convivial evening. Mr.
Bradshaw and Mr. Jarvis attended as guests of the Association,
and the School was represented by the Headmaster and Mr. Tayler;
illness unfortunately kept away Col Styles, the Chairman of the
Governors, as well as Mr. Hoggins and Mr. Gourlay. The organizer
of the feast, R. S. Green (1930-34), proposed the toast of
"Absent Friends", and Squadron-Leader E. S. Gates, D.F.C.
(1933-40) proposed "The School", to which the Headmaster replied.
Mr Bradshaw, in reminiscent vein, proposed "The Old Lewesians
Association", on behalf of which the Chairman replied. A pleasant
series of conversations followed, and all present hoped that this
would be the first of many such annual gatherings.

Provisional arrangements for the Autumn meeting are that it
will be held at the School towards the end of September,
commencing with a service in the chapel, followed by the Annual
General Meeting, refreshments and informal talk. It is hoped to
arrange a rugger match against the School in the afternoon.

The difficulties of maintaining an active Old Lewesian
Association are great.; the majority of Old Boys leave the
district, and most of them are now scattered widely over the
country and abroad; while the nucleus, who live in or near Lewes
and provide the mainspring of the activities of such an
Association, is small in .number. It is all the more important
therefore that all Old Boys should join the Association and
should make every effort to come to at least one meeting a year;
only in this way can such an Association flourish.

SWIMMING POOL

WORK on the swimming pool renovations is now almost complete and
the necessary money has almost all been raised; the final account
from the contractor is not yet to hand, but will probably amount
to a few hundred pounds. As may be seen from the balance sheet
below, we would have been in difficult straits to meet the
accounts in time had it not been for a most generous
interest-free loan of £500 from a friend of the School who
prefers to remain anonymous; his generosity has insured that all
accounts can be met immediately with a small reserve for the
necessary extra expenditure. The loan can then be paid off in the
course of the next eighteen months or two years by further
efforts from the School.

The largest single contribution to the Fund is the grant from
the East Sussex County Council, which just covers (as it is
designed to do) the purchase and installation of the chlorination
and filter plant necessary to conform with modern standards of
hygiene. Almost equally large, however, is the sum raised by the
School's own efforts, principally from the last two magnificently
successful Christmas fetes. Donations by parents, Old Lewesians,
and other friends and well-wishers of the School, amount to a
valuable total; many parents carried out ingenious money-raising
schemes which are too numerous to record in full, but the School
is deeply indebted to them for the devotion they have shown in
its interests.

The School itself is engaged on raising the remainder of the
money by voluntary weekly contributions from individual boys;
with an all-round response, this method will rapidly close the
account.

The filtration plant was provided by Messrs T. W. Barfoot Ltd.
of Seaford, a name well known to the School throughout successive
generations, the building work was carried out by the Ringmer
Building Works, and the designer and supervisor of the whole work
was Mr. David Ashdown, B.Arch., R.I.B.A. In addition to the
plant, it includes the provision of washing, lavatory and first
aid facilities, a covered changing room and the re-paving of the
whole surround of the pool.

The grass bank has been turfed and the south side closed in
with a close-boarded fence by the County Architect, and it is
hoped to complete the renovations by the planting of some shrubs
during the spring.

THE CHAPEL

"DON'T pick on me; I don't cause any, trouble in chapel. I don't
take any part, but you can't grumble at that." This is a
ridiculous and selfish attitude. Worship is a corporate act and
if some boys refuse to participate they are depriving others of
the chance to worship in any full sense, not to mention those few
who deliberately whisper and cause a disturbance so that others
find it difficult to concentrate. Completely self-centred, they
have not even the sense to see whether there might not be
something in the claims of Christ which would affect themselves.
The hymns are sung with little feeling by a large proportion; too
few listen to the prayers and make them their own; the Lord s
Prayer is whispered apologetically or mumbled meaninglessly, and
the preacher or reader rarely has the full attention of all the
congregation. These remarks are aimed primarily at the seniors,
but not exclusively so. How can anyone benefit from the chapel if
he puts nothing into it?

This year constant attempts have been made to vary, inspire
and invigorate the services as much as possible. Let me express
right away our gratitude and indebtedness to Mr. Gem, who is now
supervising chapel arrangements with the Headmaster, and who has
brought a new spirit into chapel affairs and is trying to make
Christianity applicable to this generation and the needs of the
contemporary situation. The form of afternoon service has
sometimes been altered and various experiments have been tried.
One afternoon the Headmaster and Mr. Gem read extracts from the
"Screwtape Letters", another was devoted to hearing about the
cogent and dynamic force which has often been the outcome of
religious experience. Besides hearing the Headmaster and a number
of the masters, we have benefited from the intellectual arguments
of three Cuddesdon College ordinands, the definite views of Canon
Collins of St. Paul's; the experience of the Headmaster of Harrow
and four school chaplains, the views of a Quaker and a Unitarian,
and another stirring address from the Rev: Donald Carpenter. The
Rev. David Stevens was warmly welcomed back to preach to the
juniors.

The Parents' Carol Service, a service after Speech Day and one
before the "Soiree Francaise" have made the chapel available to
people outside the School. A collection held for the "Save the
Children" Fund raised £31.

The chapel is being used more and more, and some members of
the School are now taking more of a leading role, including
playing the organ. Four prefects, G. J. Carey, R. J. Gregory, D.
P. Highwood and A. J Braid, have been made Prefects of Chapel, to
help in its organisation and discipline and to take the lead in
activities in which boys participate. The Morning Service, short
and direct, usually given by the Headmaster and Mr. Gem, is, on
Fridays, left to a member of the Sixth Form. .On Thursday
evenings for a few minutes after school, a regrettably small
number meet together for prayer in a very calm and conducive
atmosphere which I hope more people will come to enjoy. These
prayers are usually led by members of the School. During
Christian Unity Week, lunch time services were held in the chapel
every day and led by G. J. Carey. Indefatigable where chapel is
concerned Carey has taken on himself much of the long and often
tedious work behind the scenes such as keeping the records and
writing notices; he it is who organises those who take the
service; he has given the juniors a sermon and is the guiding
spirit in much that is done. On Tuesday at lunch time the Bible
is studied in the vestry under the direction of Mr. Pope and Mr.
Hughes.

The chapel is in fact quite alive, but in what state of
health? That depends on the School, many of whom persist in
regarding it with lethargic scepticism. My prayer is that the
School will use the chapel, and every other means, to explore
this Christianity, for it may give their lives a new meaning and
purpose, may show them the truth, may fill the gap and make them
complete, fulfilled men.
A.J.B.

THE GOD - MAN

WHILST discussing some aspects of religion in a Sixth form debate
last term, I put forward a theory of man eventually struggling
through ignorance to perfection and, on reaching his goal,
becoming God himself. I was told in a hushed voice that it was
arrogant to suppose that we should ever be able to attain
perfection without the help of God. I disagree. How much more
arrogant it is to suppose that merely by continually offering
prayers to a God and by obeying the laws of society, we will, at
the end of our lives, be spirited away to a happy, perfect mode
of being. May we be so arrogant as to suppose that out of all the
faiths on this earth, Christianity is the final word? May we dare
to suggest that out of all the solar systems in our galaxy, and
out of all the galaxies in the universe, our way of life is the
be-all and end-all, and that by whimpering humbly on our knees
for forgiveness for our sins and for assistance from God, we are
fulfilling a divine will?

The feeling of security attained through belief in an
Altnighty Power is a false one, and a hindnance to progress.
Which is the nobler action; to convert other nations with a view
to more happy people in heaven, or to convert other nations with
a view to a Millenium on this earth, a well-ruled, realistic
society, controlled BY MAN FOR MAN? Surely the solution is to
delete God as an Almighty, controlling power, and substitute God
as a representation of Man as he will eventually became. For only
by hacking away the delusions of an after life of bliss can we
awake to the reality of the hard struggle ahead. Slowly,
inexorably slowly, Mankind is uniting; a good example of this is
the vast reduction in the numbers of the tribes in Europe to form
into nations, nations which are now uniting further into larger,
more viable units.

The first step is completed when our world becames one nation,
one ideal. Then comes the thrust outward, the gradual absorption
of our system of worlds, thence spreading outwards through the
universe; and when at last the limits are reached, there lies our
Heaven, and God is the Spirit of Man.

This, however, lies a very, very long way ahead indeed. It
took the dinosaur 20,000,000 years to discover that they could
not adapt themselves to this world, let alone to the universe,
and we have only been in existence 500,000 years. But the
challenge is there; it could, and in my humble opinion will be,
accepted by homo sapiens, and we must not let a fear of reality
drive us into the security of an all-powerful image. For as
surely as the sun god ceased to exist for our ancestors when they
came to understand its place and function, so our God will cease
to exist when we become perfect.
P. WAIGHT, VI.B.MOD. (Seahaven).

THE RAILWAY ENTHUSIASTS' CLUB

AS has been the case on the railways themselves, the last year
has seen many changes in the way the Club is run. This was
inevitable because of its experimental nature, but after trying
several systems the present one seems to work very well.

By the beginning of 1962 the Club had been organised into two
sections, each section meeting on alternate Tuesdays. Carey (6A)
was in charge of the "live" railway section, while I (Fuller)
became responsible for the model railway section. During the
Easter term the real. railway section heard about the railways
seen an the previous year's German trip, were given valuable
hints on railway photography by our President, Mr. Ives, saw
membeis' colour slides and photographs, and films loaned by the
Bluebell Railway. A joint effort was the successful railway quiz,
run on a house basis and won by Uckfield, and both sections saw
British Transport Commission films and filmstrips. The model
railway section held a modelling competition (railway models made
by members), put questions to a model railway "Brains Trust",
heard about "Basic Station Layout Design" and listened to a
sequence of ten-minute talks.

Following on from the experiences of this term it was decided
to discontinue the separate sections and to form once more as one
complete unit. Under this new arrangement, Carey assumed
responsibility for outings, Seagrave (6A) became notice-board
editor, and I took over the Chairmanship of the Club.

During the holidays and in the Summer Term, several outings
were organised, including trips to Brighton Motive Power Depot,
London (for the "Modern Railway Exhibition"), Bournemouth, and
Lancing Carriage Works and Eastleigh Locomative Works and Motive
Power Depot. At the time of writing a trip to Three Bridges Depot
is in the offing and a day's outing to Swindon is being planned
far Easter, 1963.

In the Autumn Term we had a full programme of meetings which
included a photo competition judged by Mr. Ives and followed by a
showing of some more of his large photorgraphic collection,
another railway quiz and an evening entitled "A Selection of
Slides", taken and shown by Seagrave. Several talks were given of
which the most prominent was one by Mr. Mitchener, the
Stationmaster at Crowborough and Jarvis Braok, whose subject was
the development and working of signalling. Various members
contributed talks on places of railway interest which they had
recently visited, including Oxford, South Devon, the Romney,
Hythe and Dymchurch Railway and the Model Railway Hobby Show,
1962.

The model railway enthusiasts again came into their own on the
day of the School Sale (November 24th) when four working railway
layouts, an operating model car layout, a railway slide show, and
appropriate sound effects transformed Room 21 into a miniature
Clapham Junction. By the end af the afternoon 343 people had
visited us and our net receipts were £9 3s. 7d.

We ended the term with three talks under the title "Oddities
and Anecdotes", which were concerned with the lighter, more
humorous side of railway operation. We, too will have our own
anecdotes about the Club's activities, for there can be no doubt
that during the year we have made mistakes; but it is equally
true that we have been successful in most things and have
established ourselves well and truly. You will notice that I keep
on referring to "we"; this is deliberate, for the Club could not
exist without the efforts of all its members, spearheaded by the
driving force of the committee, Coombs (6A), Seagrave, Carey,
Moon 5A), Robbins (5C) and myself. With their backing and with
more help from the younger members I am convinced that we can
achieve what is our next object, to double our membership.
M.F.F.

SENIOR SCIENCE CLUB

THE Senior Science Club, senior now meaning 4th forms upwards,
had another interesting year of meetings under the Chairmanship
of Mr. Hoggins. Talks by members of the School, both boys and
masters, constituted the main portian of the year's programme,
these including: "The Internal Combustion Engine", given by
Kershaw; "A Symposium on Insects", compiled by MacHugh and
several co-workers; "The Work of the Patents Office", by Mr.
Robinson; "Penicillin", by Mr. Hughes; "The Piltdown Forgery", by
Messrs Davey and Hoggins.

A visit was made to the automatic telephone exchange in Lewes,
and the remaining meetings were taken up with films :
"Transistors", "The Rival World", "Hydrocarbon Story", and
"Colour Today".
P.J.W.

"THE REVUE"December 1962

THIS substitute for the annual House Plays earns unstinted
praise. The organisers (hard to put a finger on them but it seems
likely that Messrs Beal and Hughes were the chief perpetrators)
deserve the heartiest congratulations of the School on their
outstanding production: lively, tempo never slacking,
stimulating, and at times downright funny, it was genuine
entertainment. And oh, isn't it pleasant to be entertained at the
end of a long, long term? No morals needed to be pointed, no
tender consciences pricked, no one need feel stunned by the
condition of the producers or authors; just old-fashioned (but
eternally new) fun.

It's hard to remember detail as one sketch succeeded another
rapidly and with sufficient contrast to its predecessor to keep
the excitement going at a high level. It seems invidious, too, to
pick out any particular sketch for special mention, but the
School will certainly remember that superb caricature by Drake of
an imaginary preacher: a bit coarse but a wonderful parody." This
superb Assembly Hall - I mean it quite sincerely - will long be
remembered."

The "Don Tyrell Girls" gave us an excellent foretaste of what
was to come: high kicking strapping young maidens they were, too
! Then the industrial dispute sketch followed: Dords of Fagenham,
I think it was, very well done ."Waiting under a lamp-post" was
first-rate; Waight has been the fetching young lady so often and
successfully he's almost type-cast! The "Brookland Brothers",
miming to a record was very well applauded and deserved it:
Hughes and Parker did a difficult job here very amusingly. Beal's
"solo" followed, including his western saloon fight with an
imaginary opponent : very difficuly to do this effectively but it
came off. That old favourite " The ghosties to the woman. said"
wound up the first half of the programme and was good, though I
thought the final shriek could have been louder.

During and after the interval we had Curry, Hill and Perry on
electric guitars, plus Curry junior on the drums (well, one drum,
anyhow); first-rate they were, too! In "In Town Tonight" Bleach
excelled as the pop-singer. Hughes was a very convincing Hans
Hass (pity he'd lost Lottie!); Parker was an amusing Liverpudlian
comic, and Beal conducted a very funny interview with two
disgruntled Aussie cricketers (Parker and Hughes). A skit on
"Biggles" followed, made, for my part, by Hughes's interjections
from the wings. Bignall "pulled" himself successfully and
entertainingly round the traverse curtain. Then Hitler (Bleach)
and Chamberlain (Hughes) met at the Berghof : very good material
this was, but as there was no dialogue perhaps it went on a
little too long. Hughes and Morling led the "Glass of Water"
sketch and its inevitable but humorous ending was well timed. The
proceedings ended with a fine burlesque on a "Speech Day" - at an
entirely fictional school, of course! Written by Drake it was the
most ambitious and longest of the sketches, and excellent fun it
was! The "headmaster" (Anderson) read his report (very pithy) in
the face of constant interruption from a disreputable and
obstreperous "governor" (Parker). Bleach showed his virtuosity (I
wonder why he never volunteers for the School play!) by appearing
as the guest speaker - "Field-Marshal Montmorency, of Colamine' ,
and he was quite first-class. Nice to see the two "guest stars" ,
Sadler and Pearmain treading the boards where they have won such
glory. All in all a jolly good show - "and I mean it-quite
sincerely!"
P.J.O.T.